Food, in addition to nourishing us, performs other functions that we do not always notice when we put it in our mouths. Sometimes it takes years to understand what role it has played in our lives and how it has influenced the person we are today. In the case of Anjalina Chugani, who was born in the vibrant city of London, but comes from an Indian community called Shindi, the dishes of her childhood were the link to her roots.
This Indo-Aryan people lived in Shind, a province that currently belongs to Pakistan and whose inhabitants they left behind when the partition of the British Indian Empire occurred. "My paternal grandparents settled in Chennai, a city located in the south of India, and those on my maternal side ended up in the Philippines. They never made any reference to their exile, it brought back bad memories," says Chugani, who has just published something more than a recipe book. Rasa. Flavors and stories of my Indian cuisine (Larousse) is a colorful and beautiful journey through the gastronomy and culture of this country, which are mixed with the author's memories.
This cook explains that her parents were very Westernized, but that her mother always resorted to the traditional recipe book that she had inherited from her mother and mother-in-law to feed the family. From that time in London she remembers a stew they ate every Monday night: Sai Bhaji. "The Hindu calendar states that on Mondays and Thursdays you must eat vegetarian and, to comply with this mandate, in my house this very complete meal was always served, which consists of a strong vegetable curry, which I loved." Chugani did not participate in the preparation of these dishes, but she observed how her mother made them. "He cooked with pure joy and pleasure, and I absorbed it without realizing it."
This was his way of connecting with the culture of his ancestors, until at the age of 14 he had to move to Bangalore, in southern India, because his father had gotten a job there. It was a change that impressed her and, although she was of Indian descent, he misled her for a time. "I felt very British. She was a teenager who liked Western music and ate sandwiches for breakfast." Suddenly, a series of cousins and uncles that she had never heard of were part of her daily life, and she was unaware of their habits. But Chugani soon realized that this turn in her life would be positive. She ended up embracing those colors, smells and people that at first seemed strange to her and falling at the feet of a city in "where everyone smiles and welcomes you."
There he learned to eat with his hands, something that, having just landed in Bangalore, seemed unhygienic to him, "but I noticed that everything was much tastier." Chugani explains in his book that the first part of digestion begins with the hands and that when we mix food with them, the padras (energy) in them are activated, which at the same time are transferred to the food with the naadis (pulse). of the fingertips. It is a knowledge that she acquired after studying Ayurveda years after her stay in Bangalore, the traditional medical system of India, and that helped her understand the great importance that food could have on health.
Before that, she enjoyed the street food of Bangalore, breakfasts like dosas (a pancake made with fermented rice and lentil dough) so different from those sandwiches she was used to. And, almost without realizing it, she made a leap into adulthood. Her parents increasingly insisted that she get married, and although she was shocked that this was the only way she could become independent, she ended up meeting a person with whom she had friends in common at a wedding, who today is her husband. And again she had to move, in this case, to Barcelona, where he lived.
Curiously, it was in the Catalan capital where he finally felt Indian cuisine as his own, says Chugani. For the first time, she had a kitchen to herself and her interest grew in reproducing those dishes that had accompanied her on her path. She made multiple calls to her mother and her friends to get to know them better, but she warned that, although she had cooked little during her life, that learning had begun a long time ago and she "knew how to combine flavors perfectly." ". The women she had encountered had transferred that knowledge to her, "because we are the transmitters and guardians not only of cuisine, but also of culture. Today, I continue with this task and write down everything I have learned ".
In addition to sharing this learning, her new book has another goal: "I wanted to tell a story of a modern immigrant woman, and reveal the following to people who have left their countries of origin to live in others: "You must return to your roots to fulfill your dreams."
